Johan Luther
Name: Johan Luther Gender: Male Age: 16 Hobbies and Interests: Political Theory, American History, Economics, Explosives (Only an interest and some basic knowledge, little actual experience.), Electronics, Running (especially long distance) Appearance: Roughly 5'8" and 145 lbs, Johan is of fairly average height and weight, generally fit and fairly lean but not very muscular. He is relatively fair skinned compared to most people and has sky blue eyes as well as wavy light brown hair with small streaks of blond hair, owing to his German descent, arranged in a very loose but still well groomed hairstyle. His clothing is for the most part fairly subtle, primarily functional shirts and trousers, mostly in various shades of gray or black. His most distinguishing feature is a unique cap with a Communist insignia he smuggled into General's Pride and has kept over many years, afraid of wearing it in public for fear of retribution. He has since debated whether or not to start wearing his hat during the Program, noting that it could deeply endanger his family, but still refused to leave it behind, believing that it still represented much of his beliefs. At the time of abduction, Johan was wearing a simple set of a gray T-shirt, black trousers, running shoes, and carried (but did not wear) his Communist insignia hat. Biography: Born to a family descended from German immigrants in the 1930's, Johan at first didn't like America, in all of its nationalist and militarist glory. His family did have very secretive Communist tendencies, but for the most part they kept their beliefs hidden enough to avoid being rooted out by the government. The Luther family generally assimilated fairly well, passing down a fairly profitable electronics manufacturing company which had the fortunate side effect of giving them a "capitalist" cover. However, the family did keep a set of Communist literature smuggled in from Germany passed down from the original German immigrants, and while they did not actively teach Johan about the ideology, he would often return to the books when he felt in need of reflection. In any case, in elementary school, he demonstrated himself to be an apt student, well adapted to American society, and showed an early interest in the military and history. However, he was often mocked for being the descendant of foreign immigrants and for his slight German accent (partly cultivated by his family to partly preserve their German identity without actually speaking German) by his peers and such treatment would continue unabated, even though he did everything in his power to assimilate. His family, however, supported him and helped him to endure the constant torrent of insults and aggression in his way. His father, Mathias Luther saw him as his family's hope in America, seeing as Johan was fairly thoroughly integrated into American society and seemed to be intelligent enough to be able to carry on the secrets of the Luther family but still keep himself (and the family) from being caught. Mathias was the manager of the Luther electronics factory and he helped to breed an active interest in Johan for electronics. His mother, Catherine Luther, did not appreciate Communism nearly as much as Mathias but still kept quiet to protect her husband and his thriving electronics factory. While Johan was not as close to his mother as he was to his father, Johan still had a peaceful and stable relationship with her, as she still attempted to protect Johan from much of the aggressive behavior that was directed towards him. In middle school, Johan did well academically, but found more and more pressure by those who bullied him for his German origins. He found a particular interest in the subjects of Political Theory, American History, and Economics, and ended up looking through the Communist literature his family stored, finding refuge in the ideals of revolution and equality for all, although his parents reminded time and time again that he was not to was not to speak a word about the texts. He began taking up jogging to simply get away from others and get time to think over the Communist texts (mostly the works of Marx and Engles), and became a fairly capable long runner as well as a decent sprinter. He began to pursue more... forbidden information, especially the creation and use of improvised explosives. His family had a close family friend that was also a black market dealer, who they occasionally would buy forbidden Communist texts and foreign entertainment, mostly movies in DVD form, hidden along with the Communist literature passed down by the Luther family. Johan secretly made a request to the family friend for a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook, which he vaguely knew had some information on explosives. The family friend not only found a copy but offered it to Johan for free, coinciding with his 13th birthday. Johan attempted to refuse and tried to pay him $35, which was a large chunk of his savings, but the dealer refused even more adamantly and simply handed him the book and closed the door in Johan's face. Johan began studying the book with great interest, carefully analyzing the instructions on creating explosives, especially improvised ones. He also attempted to experiment the creation of detonators with simply walkie-talkies, and succeeded somewhat, although he did not have any real practical experience in creating actual IEDs, as he realized it would simply be idiotic for him to try testing real explosives, even in deserted countryside. However, he was still somewhat ashamed at what he learned, still retaining loyalty to his birth nation and not wanting his father to know how he was taking their Communist beliefs into a more substantial form. Socially, he acted a bit strangely and was not very socially adept, but got along well with others and forming some close friendships, being even somewhat likable, after people shrugged off his somewhat unusual behavior. He was really not very different from any other middle school boy, abit one with rather unusual interests. Now in high school, Johan began to become even more interested in Communism, and his parents were rather quick to figure out that he was becoming more devoted to the study of forbidden knowledge. However, his father did not criticism him directly and simply gave him a simple warning on knowledge and actually putting knowledge into reality, of which Johan understood the underlying message and restrained himself in his search. In school, he joined the track and field team, where he managed to preform quite well in long distance running and somewhat decently in sprinting, as he found the sport relieved stress (as opposed to more adrenaline-filled sports such as soccer or American football, in which he found that being in a stressful close-contact situation caused him to panic at times). Academically, he preformed fairly decently, being in above grade classes for the most part and generally being a B+ student, with the exception of his favorite classes of Economics and American History, where he preformed at a solidly A level (mostly for his interest in America's past, not so much its present). He generally wasn't harassed as much as he was in the past, although his unusual political beliefs often bring him into conflict with others (although he didn't reveal himself to be a Communist). Socially, he did not really confine himself to any groups, and was still somewhat awkward, but he generally avoided the popular crowd, mostly making friends with those outside the mainstream but also some who shared his interest in running. He wasn't exactly very romantically interested in girls, preferring to make simple friendships instead. He was still an ardent yet secretive Communist, but in reality he was quite content with his current situation and considering dropping his pursuit - that was, until he chosen on Announcement Day. He now was forced into making a choice about who he was going to be - simply Johan or Johan the Communist? Only the events of the Program would decide that for him. Advantages: Johan has basic knowledge with explosives and detonators. He's better then most on running, and is in fairly good shape. Finally, he has a somewhat greater motivation then others, although he's not particularly enthusiastic about Communism in the first place. Disadvantages: Johan's ideology might come in conflict with others, and some will be biased about his foreign descent. He doesn't always see the potential results of his actions, despite being relatively intelligent. He also is also somewhat prone to panic when at close range, although he can preform fairly well from a distance. Designated Number: Male Student #18 ---- Designated Weapon: Sports Javelin Conclusion: Again, a wild card. M18 could go either way, becoming quite the contender, or rolling over and dying. Only time will tell however. The above biography is as written by Un67. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made. Evaluations Kills: None Killed by: Madeline Harris Collected Weapons: Sports Javelin (assigned weapon), Kimber Desert Warrior (from Benjamin Latimer) Allies: '''Benjamin Latimer '''Enemies: Madeline Harris Mid-Game Evaluation: Post-Game Evaluation: Memorable Quotes: Other/Trivia *Johan's last words are actually part of a quote from Mao Zedong. Threads Below is a list of threads that contain Johan, in chronological order. *This Can't Be Me *Once Upon A Time... *Vioectrolysis *Nice Morning for a Shootout *Who Needs Direction? Your Thoughts Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Johan. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here! *Johan was an interesting character. His concept made him stand out; a revolutionary in the world of The Program is an oddity indeed, especially one so dedicated. That said, in game most of Johan's scenes involved him talking with other people or being scared of the violence, at great length. While not exactly bad, it's pretty illustrative of the less-is-more principal; since many of Johan's posts are him planning stuff that never really goes anywhere, a lot of his story is left feeling pretty incidental. Another slight issue is that Johan's dialogue is all in bolded text, which really does not do it any readability favors and can feel super jarring in the context of other handlers not doing that. That said, Johan's not a bad character by any means, and his high point is his death thread, where he gets to be a little more active than typical for him. It's always nice when a character goes out on a personal high point. - MurderWeasel Category:Characters Category:Program Characters Category:The Program